Human Physiology (BA/BS)

Human physiology is the science of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical function of humans, and serves as the foundation of modern medicine. As a discipline, it connects science, medicine, and health and creates a framework for understanding how the human body adapts to stresses, physical activity, and disease.

Undergraduate students in human physiology complete preparatory science courses in chemistry, biology, mathematics and physics that prepare them for upper level coursework in human anatomy and physiology as well as courses that explore the functional and structural mechanisms underlying human health and performance across the life span. The majority of our students aspire to be professionals in health-science fields such as medicine, physical therapy, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, education, and research.

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

• Content Intellectual Breadth: Demonstrate content knowledge and understanding of terminology, concepts, and relationships in human anatomy and physiology.
• Inquiry: Utilize a broad foundation of anatomical relationships and physiological principles in analysis, application, and synthesis related to human physiology and pathophysiology.
• Critical Thinking: Critically evaluate scientific information to help make decisions with respect to personal health, clinical applications, and research in human physiology.
• Life-long Learning: Demonstrate life-long learning skills, which include deciding what needs to be learned, articulating a learning plan, and implementing this plan.
• Communication: Communicate effectively, to a variety of audiences, in various modes.
• Ethics Professionalism: Demonstrate knowledge of ethical and professional behavior related to academic integrity, communication with others, and during individual and cooperative work.

Program Learning Outcomes with Sub-Outcomes

1. Content & Intellectual Breadth: Demonstrate content knowledge and understanding of terminology, concepts, and relationships in human anatomy and physiology.
1.1. Identify problems, articulate questions or hypotheses, and determine the need for information.
1.2. Access and collect the needed information from appropriate primary and secondary sources.
1.3. Use quantitative and qualitative methods, including the ability to recognize assumptions, draw inferences, make deductions, and interpret information to analyze problems in context and draw conclusions.

2. Inquiry: Utilize a broad foundation of anatomical relationships and physiological principles in analysis, application, and synthesis related to human physiology and pathophysiology.
2.1. Recognize the complexity of problems and identify different perspectives from which problems and questions can be viewed.
2.2. Evaluate and report on conclusions, including discussing the basis for and strength of findings, and identify areas where further inquiry is needed.

3. Critical Thinking: Critically evaluate scientific information to help make decisions with respect to personal health, clinical applications, and research in human physiology.
3.1. Identify, analyze, and evaluate reasoning and construct and defend reasonable arguments and explanations.

4. Life-long Learning: Demonstrate life-long learning skills, which include deciding what needs to be learned, articulating a learning plan, and implementing this plan.
4.1. Demonstrate in-depth knowledge and skills in Human Physiology.
4.2. Identify the fundamental principles of Human Physiology.
4.3. Apply the research methods and theoretical models of Human Physiology to define, solve, and evaluate problems.
4.4. Transfer knowledge and skills gained from general and specialized studies to new settings and complex problems.
4.5. Demonstrate life-long learning skills, including the ability to place problems in personally meaningful contexts, reflect on one's own understanding, demonstrate awareness of what needs to be learned, articulate a learning plan, and act independently on the plan using appropriate resources.
4.6. Achieve success in Human Physiology, including applying persistence, motivation, interpersonal communications, leadership, goal setting, and career skills.

5. Communication: Communicate effectively, to a variety of audiences, in various modes.
5.1. Demonstrate general academic literacy, including how to respond to needs of audiences and to different kinds of rhetorical situations, analyze and evaluate reasons and evidence, and construct research-based arguments using Standard Written English.
5.2. Effectively use the common genres and conventions for writing within Human Physiology.
5.3. Prepare and deliver effective oral presentations.
5.4. Collaborate effectively with others to share information, solve problems, or complete tasks.
5.5. Produce effective visuals using different media.
5.6. Apply the up-to-date technologies commonly used to research and communicate within Human Physiology.

6. Ethics & Professionalism: Demonstrate knowledge of ethical and professional behavior related to academic integrity, communication with others, and during individual and cooperative work.
6.1. Assembling and analyzing a set of sources that students have determined are relevant to the issue they are investigating.
6.2. Acknowledging clearly when and how they are drawing on the ideas or phrasings of others.
6.3. Learning the conventions for citing documents and acknowledging sources appropriate to the field they are studying.
6.4. Examine various concepts and theories of ethics and how to deliberate and assess claims about ethical issues.
6.5. Apply ethical concepts and theories to specific ethical dilemmas students will experience in their personal and professional lives.

Human Physiology Major Requirements

¹

Should be taken in the first year.

²

Students who transfer CH 227Z/228Z/229Z credits from other schools may have the corresponding CH 217/218/219 course and credit requirements waived.

³

Students may also take PHYS 251, 202, and 203 or PHYS 251, 252, and 203. Students may not go from the 201-203 series to the 251-253 series without approval from the department.

⁴

Must be taken in residence at the University of Oregon.

⁵

Students must take two courses from List A, one course from List B, and one course from List A, B, or C (total of 16 credits).

Courses required for the major must be taken for letter grades and passed with grades of C- or better. 

Honors

To apply to graduate with departmental honors, a student must have a GPA of 3.50 or better in courses applied toward the human physiology degree requirements and complete an honors thesis under the supervision of a human physiology thesis committee. In addition, human physiology majors enrolled in the Robert Donald Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon are eligible to complete an honors thesis through that program.

Four-Year Degree Plan

The degree plan shown is only a sample of how students may complete their degrees in four years. There are alternative ways. Students should consult their advisor to determine the best path for them.

The bachelor of science is shown below. A bachelor of arts in human physiology may be earned by completing (or demonstrating proficiency in) two years of a foreign language.

Bachelor of Science in Human Physiology

¹

Students not starting in Precalculus II: Trigonometry (MATH 112Z) may require additional terms to graduate.

²

To complete core-education requirements within eight courses, students must take arts and letters or social science area-satisfying courses that also satisfy cultural literacy requirements.

³

List A and List B options may be found online.